Civil society groups support Kejriwal’s campaign against “inflated” power bills

Civil society group National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM) has also come out in support of Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal in his indefinite fast against “inflated” power bills. Mr Kejriwal’s protest entered its 11th day on Tuesday.

Backing Mr. Kejriwal’s allegations of “collusion between authorities in government, discoms and regulator resulting in corrupt practices and arbitrarily high tariffs for the consumer”, the NAPM has seconded his demand for an audit of power and electricity supply in Delhi by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

The NAPM letter of endorsement, released by the AAP on Tuesday, said: “Aam Aadmi Party has provided ample documentary evidence to substantiate this case, and has clearly maintained how distributing companies have inflated their costs by procuring equipment at higher prices. The cause for such inflated bills is on account of complicit corrupt practices due to the nexus between private corporations and government, to which the public at large is succumbing.”

Meanwhile, the AAP spokesperson claimed that over 8.3 lakh signatures have been received from the citizens in support of the “civil disobedience movement” against the alleged nexus of discoms and the Delhi Government. People have affixed their signatures on letters that urge the discoms to bring into the public domain all their collections. “If there is no fudging in the accounts, then why are they afraid of getting them audited by CAG?” asked the AAP spokesperson.

The spokesperson said Mr. Kejriwal’s health was stable and doctors were monitoring his basic parameters. “His blood pressure is 108/71, pulse 67, sugar 123 and ketone is 3+,” she said, adding that due to general weakness Mr. Kejriwal did not address his supporters at the Sunder Nagari protest site on Tuesday.

The media, barring rare exceptions, is the biggest hurdle to change. It have become status-quoist and an instrument in the hands of government. Media has also lost completely the sense of priority to say the least. It is civil society movements thanks to Arvind Kejriwal, Annaji, Aruna Roy , Medhaji and many more who are thinking and talking about the poor of this country and not the powerful politicians and colourful film stars. Media has largely become a part of the problem.

from:
Sunil

Posted on: Apr 4, 2013 at 11:03 IST

I feel Media has not been giving the the due and well deserved coverage to the AAP Leader Kejriwal's Fast. Issue raised is of prominent importance. There was a fast going on in Hyderabad by a BJP Leader, the fast was stopped today after Senior BJP Leader Ravishankar Prasad flew from Delhi to Hyderabad to offer the fasting leader juice. It is nothing but the mean politics that can explain why senior leaders fly from capital to remote places but they do not wish to go to some corner of the capital where agitation is going on the same lines.

A very good example of the bad politics.

from:
Vikas Arora

Posted on: Apr 4, 2013 at 00:50 IST

None of the agitations in the past - Anna's fast, Delhi-gang-rape protests, which were backed by huge crowds have been able to shake the government. They wait for the anger to simmer down, and then go about their business as usual. But if we cut off their source of strength, which is money, then they will wake up. That is why this movement is different and more powerful. By not paying water and electric bills that have been falsely inflated, Delhites by their sheer numbers can, for the first time, force the government to take steps to stop corruption. How long can the companies survive without getting paid and how many electric lines can they cut? The key to success lies with each citizen of the capital. If they all get together, they can make the companies charge the legitimate amount from now on. Key to success lies in numbers, so get together people, make a change!